Grinding gears while downshifting througout my 1st week wit' my mentor

That's the whole trick right there. Know what gear to be in at any given speed. Any driver that tells you that you must downshift every gear is no driver in my book. You shouldn't be coasting either to come to a stop. Learn to skip gears and you'll find it much easier to drive.

 

I've got 35 years in, an still miss occasionally . Don't worry about it. If its a sudden stop , you probably have more important issues requiring your attention, like that idiot 4-wheeler that just pulled in front of you and hit his brakes.
Good Luck !

 

I have been trying to be as proactive as possible to avoid sudden stops. I know they say you should always be in gear, but when i have to stop have to stop so I just engage the clutch and brake. Recovering is all about matching your road speed to the proper gear provided your rpms are at the proper level. At least that is my understanding; I haven't driven much yet. My plan is just to be proactive as possible and react early whenever I can. I have no idea how it ends up in the real world though.

 

Following distance is everything to safety, increase your following distance this will give you more time to stop or react to those around you. Take your time shifting learn to control your engine rpms gently this will improve your shifting up and down. The first tip to down shifting is reduce your ground speed first. Then down shift. I run my rpms down to 1000 before downshifting, Brakes are for slowing down, engines and jakes are for maintaining speed not bring your truck to a stop. Although I can almost stop my truck without touching the brakes, but thats not what they are for. The main reason for downshifting is so your truck is in the correct gear for the traveling ground speed, keeps you in your power band so you can properly control the truck. Good luck..

 

Well, I'll amend one part of this post. Brakes are for Stopping.
The rest comes with experience .
Again, don't worry about it . It will come to you , with time.
As for never running out of gear , that was written by some Government Bureaucrat.
The real world is different.
Just be sure you can do said thing , if you ever have such an idiot in the jump seat.